Army and Navy
The Army and Navy cocktail is a relatively simple recipe that just uses Gin, Lemon Juice, Orgeat, and Bitters. It's not the least complicated cocktail recipe out there, but it's also far from the most. What's better, it uses some pretty common ingredients for most home bars but still managed to be something a little bit more unusual and different from a lot of recipes common to those making cocktails at home. The only ingredient in the Army and Navy that may start to get the tiniest bit exotic is the Orgeat, and that's not even that unusual. If you don't have Orgeat, we'd suggest getting a bottle as soon as you can, or just making it yourself! With Orgeat, you open yourself up to a lot of wonderful Tiki cocktails, and you really can't go wrong with Tiki!Or perhaps you already had Orgeat and didn't know what to do with it, so you stuck it in our cocktail builder to find out what cocktail you can make. That works too!However you found yourself at this recipe, you're probably going to be pleased with this cocktail. We make no promises of course, because everybody's taste is different, but what's not like about Gin with Lemon Juice offset with some sweetness from the Orgeat. Sure, the Army and Navy moves away from the standard slightly, but it also works very well.So get out of your comfort zone with an Army and Navy cocktail!
Ingredients
- 60 mL Gin
- 20 mL Lemon Juice
- 15 mL Orgeat
- 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
Instructions
- Add Gin, Lemon Juice, Orgeat, and Bitters to a cocktail shaker with ice.
- Shake everything until it's cold and mixed properly.
- Strain into a glass of your choosing.
- Enjoy your cocktail.
Notes
There's no clear history for the Army and Navy cocktail, but it's likely it was created at the Army and Navy Club in Washington D.C., at least judging by the name. There's a few stories about the Army and Navy Club, one being that it's where the Daiquiri was first served in the United States. Obviously the Daiquiri has its own Caribbean history, but it had to be brought to the U.S.A. at some point and somewhere, and that where was likely the Army and Navy Club.
Similar to where the cocktail was first created, we don't know when the cocktail was first created either. We do know that the recipe was first published in the 1948 cocktail book The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks by David A. Embury. Embury doesn't claim to have invented the Army and Navy, so we know the recipe was created some time before 1948; how far before, we don't know... was this a cocktail created shortly after World War II to be enjoyed by returning soldiers, or was this a secret tipple that was enjoyed exclusively at the Army and Navy Club for years before it went public? We'll probably never know.
However you look at it though, while learning about the history of a cocktail is fun, ultimately you're drinking it now and that's all that's important. So enjoy.